Toulouse are about to lose a second international in one summer, and for the same reason as the first.
Toulouse are about to lose a second international in one summer, and for the same reason as the first.
According to Midi Olympique, François Cros has signed a three-season deal with Lyon and will join the club after the 2027 World Cup in Australia. Neither LOU nor Stade Toulousain have made any statement so far. Lyon were the first to show interest before Montpellier made him a priority, and it is the Ginon family’s club that reportedly won the race.
Starter in all eight finals won since 2019
That one line sums up his standing. Since 2019, Toulouse have won eight finals, six in the Top 14 and two in European competition, including the 2021 double. Cros started all eight.
| Date | Competition | Final | Score | Cros |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15/06/2019 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Clermont | 24-18 | No. 7, starter |
| 22/05/2021 | Champions Cup | La Rochelle – Toulouse | 17-22 | No. 7, starter |
| 25/06/2021 | Top 14 | Toulouse – La Rochelle | 18-8 | No. 7, starter |
| 17/06/2023 | Top 14 | Toulouse – La Rochelle | 29-26 | No. 7, starter |
| 25/05/2024 | Champions Cup | Toulouse – Leinster | 31-22 | No. 7, starter |
| 28/06/2024 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Bordeaux-Bègles | 59-3 | No. 6, starter |
| 28/06/2025 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Bayonne | 32-25 | No. 6, starter |
| 27/06/2026 | Top 14 | Toulouse – Montpellier | 28-20 | No. 6, starter |
He played the full eighty minutes in seven of the eight, the only exception being the 2024 European final, when he came off in the 69th minute.
Eleven seasons, one club
Cros joined the Toulouse academy in 2009 and has never worn another professional jersey. Since his first-team debut in 2015-2016, he has played 149 Top 14 matches and 52 European games for Stade Toulousain, scoring 15 tries.
| Season | Top 14 | Starts | European Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| 2016-17 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| 2017-18 | 22 | 16 | 3 |
| 2018-19 | 21 | 19 | 6 |
| 2019-20 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 2020-21 | 14 | 13 | 4 |
| 2021-22 | 16 | 12 | 5 |
| 2022-23 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| 2023-24 | 12 | 10 | 7 |
| 2024-25 | 12 | 12 | 6 |
| 2025-26 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
His busiest season remains 2017-2018, with 22 league matches. The latest was the leanest since the Covid-interrupted 2019-2020 campaign: nine Top 14 appearances, seven of them starts. June’s final against Montpellier was one of them.
The salary cap, again
The mechanism is said to be the same as for Thomas Ramos, whose move to Racing 92 was announced earlier this summer. The Top 14 salary cap has been raised for the coming season, from 10.7 to 11 million euros, but the overall allowance of international credits, which lets clubs supplying many players to the France team exceed the cap, has been cut. The club that provides the most French internationals is automatically the hardest hit.
Toulouse responded by offering their players in their thirties a pay cut of 20 to 25% in exchange for a contract extension. Cros reportedly did not take it up.
What Toulouse would lose, and where
The move would only take effect in autumn 2027: Cros would still play a full season and the start of the next one in his current colours. The Toulouse back row would then have to do without a player with 43 appearances for France, 29 of them in the Six Nations, and whose work rate at the breakdown has no direct equivalent in the squad.
For Lyon, who have not played in the Top 14 knockout stage for several seasons, the signing would send a message. President Marc-Antoine Ginon himself described last season as a failure this week in Le Progrès, demanding that his team stay in the qualification race until the final rounds.
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